Ugandan gay activist killed by gay lover, not by hatred of LGBTs as Obama indicated

BRUSSELS, Belgium, July 3, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The brutal murder of David Kato - of one of the founding father’s of Uganda’s homosexual activist movement - last year, sparked a round of international criticism denouncing Uganda for it’s failure to promote acceptance of homosexuality. One of the first to blast the African nation was U.S. President Barack Obama, followed soon after by the European Parliament (EP) in the form of an official resolution.

While it is true that Kato’s life was threatened by a magazine exposing homosexual men in Uganda with the caption ‘hang them’, an investigation into Kato’s death revealed that he was killed by a male prostitute whom he failed to pay for his services. When a Ugandan ambassador pointed out the discrepancy to the EP, however, his remarks were met with disdain.

One day after Kato’s murder US President Barack Obama issued a statement connecting the bludgeoning murder to “unconscionable bullying, discrimination and hate” against LGBT persons.

Obama admonished the Ugandan government’s opposition to providing special rights based on sexual orientation and indicated his administration would continue to fund groups promoting homosexuality in the African nation. “LGBT rights are not special rights; they are human rights,” he said. “My Administration will continue to strongly support human rights and assistance work on behalf of LGBT persons abroad.”

The EP resolution went a step further with a resolution warning “political and religious leaders” in Uganda “to stop demonising sexual minorities and creating a climate of violence against LGBT people.”

Ugandan Ambassador Stephen T.K. Katenta-Apuli responded to the EP, to correct the impression that Kato had been killed “as a result of his championing the right of gays and lesbians in Uganda.” He informed the EP: “Nothing could be farther from the truth.”

Katenta-Apuli noted that an investigation revealed Kato had a male prostitute released from prison. “He took the ex-prisoner to his home and had sex with him,” stated Katenta-Apuli. Kato failed to pay for the ‘services rendered’, which angered the male prostitute, who then “hit David Kato with a blunt object, gravely injuring him” and left the house, locking Kato inside. Kato died of his injuries.

Both Obama and the EP vehemently demanded that the Ugandan government investigate Kato’s murder. But after Katenta-Apuli clarified that the killer was really an active homosexual, it appears the EP no longer wanted details about Kato’s murder brought to light.

MEP Heidi Hautala replied to Katenta-Apuli, saying that there was “a real feeling of surprise and disappointment [sic] felt in Parliament over the content of your letter.” Huatala said that Katenta-Apuli should not have revealed details concerning “sexuality and to the sexual conduct of Mr. Kato” adding that it was “not only irrelevant but inappropriate.”

The letters were brought to light last week by the Turtle Bay and Beyond blog in an article written by J.C. von Krempach, a doctor of law.

Von Krempach observes that in one sense he agrees with the EP characterization of Kato’s death as a ‘crime committed on the basis of sexual orientation’. “In a certain sense, yes, given that only homosexuals run the risk of being slain by male prostitutes whom they refuse to pay for their services,” he opined.

Moreover von Krempach says:

“With regard to Mr. Kato’s murderer, I am actually not sure whether he too was homosexual. Not all male prostitutes are. Maybe he, like so many African children, has simply been forced to sell his body for money in order to survive - to Mr. Kato and his likes. It is all the more absurd to treat Mr. Kato solely as a “victim”, when in actual fact he appears to also have been a perpetrator. I find it astonishing that the otherwise very active LGBT lobby in the European Parliament finds no words of condemnation for the sad phenomenon of male prostitution, and instead continues to praise Mr. Kato as a “human rights champion”….

In its resolution the EP went so far as to issue a thinly veiled threat of denying foreign aid for Uganda’s poor and even assistance from foreign doctors for Uganda’s sick, should the government fail to decriminalize homosexual acts. (see point 10)

In the concluding remarks of his response, the Ugandan ambassador says: “On a personal note, I think the way the (EP) are going about the interests and rights of LGBT people is not correct, is counter productive, endangering, and inciting violence against them and may not yield the intended results.”

“The bottom line,” said U.S. pro-family activist Peter LaBarbera, “is that if Kato had obeyed the laws of his nation and refrained from engaging in such dangerous sexual activity he would still be alive today.”

LaBarbera, President of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, told LifeSiteNews, “The law is a teacher and it has a restrictive effect on behavior, thus sodomy laws dissuade people from destructive behavior.” He added that he opposes the excesses of such laws, and said, “I don’t believe in the death penalty for homosexuality.”